This small British sports car maker is absolutely obsessed with making its cars lighter

Lotus' cars are now so light owners should be encouraged to tie
them down at night to prevent them from floating away.

The small, British sports car maker announced today that it
has slashed a combined 207 kg, or about 456 pounds, from all
of its models during this year alone.

That kind of announcement from almost any other manufacturer
would be a mundane affair — a common event as models are further
developed.

But from Lotus, whose motto has always been "simplify, then add
lightness," eeking away that much weight is yet another sign
of a long history (or obsession, really) with doing away with
speed-sapping pounds.

The
adorably financially woeful company's founder, the
legendary automotive engineer Colin Chapman, believed that
lightness was just as important as horsepower. His unprecedented
success in international racing proved him correct many times
over, and a good number of his innovations are now used in
almost all modern cars.

The
aluminum chassis of the Lotus Evora.Lotus

“To perfect a pure sports car, you must consider weight your
enemy," Jean-Marc Gales, the current CEO of
GroupLotusplc, said in a
statement.

"Lose weight and you will make significant gains: harder
and faster cornering, better braking, greater agility and
responsiveness, along with faster acceleration.”

The statement included an almost comical list of ways in
which Lotus has pulled off its latest crash diet:

The company declared that their "holistic" approach to
weigh-saving would further add to their main objective: driving
enjoyment.

"As an antidote to sterilized and attenuated modern cars,
Lotus’s approach continues to deliver a pure, undiluted driving
experience. Avoiding systems that rob cars of their fun factor,
including electric power steering, it places function over
convenience, to produce truly involving vehicles," the
company said.